Hersheys

Each time the Reese’s Dark Peanut Butter Cups come out as a limited edition, I’ve always missed them. One of the original rounds, and you can see the wrapper on Mike’s Candy Wrapper Page here, and as a part of the Dark Knight movie release last summer (I was only able to find the milk chocolate ones). I’m sure there were other released that I’m missing, but most of them came out at a time when I wasn’t paying much attention to candy. Crazy, I know.

I only knew they were on shelves again by first finding them on display at my local Wawa and then seeing Cybele’s review of them not even thirty minutes later.

The package design is interesting because looks like a RPBC, as it keeps the same colors and yet it’s different enough to know it’s not the normal kind. Aside from the word “DARK” printed on the front in white, I don’t know what stood out to tell me this was a different candy beast. Telepathic candy vibes perhaps?

Out of the wrapper, the cups smell awesome and similar to the regular RPBC. I do get notes of something darker, more roasted and less sweet. The cups have one of those hard paper trays to sit on to protect them, and it has a game piece on it telling me I didn’t win (the wrapper has a contest on the front as a part of some promo). Which is sad cause I could use $2,500,000. The cups themselves are much darker in appearance and the chocolate is a nice deep dark reddish brown. I glance at the ingredients list to see there’s milk solids in here, which always confuses me as to why companies put them in dark chocolate. Is it cost effective? More shelf stable? Note to self: I need to look that up.

Handling the cups, they’re very solid. No softness or sticking to my fingers like the normal kind. The bite is still soft and I was almost expecting a snap to the chocolate. The chocolate is still sweet, but much milder and more rich with a hint of coconut and strawberries. The peanut butter is the same as we all know and love: salty, roasted and very nutty with that signature texture. The milder chocolate and the peanut butter go so well together, as does the more rich texture of the chocolate. Luscious, just luscious.

It’s hard to say they’ve improved on the original RPBC, as it’s such a classic candy and has so much perfection about it. Still, I am just smitten with these and I find myself buying them again and again. I have a new candy crush.

I was surprised and pleased to find the regular sized Reese’s Crunchy the other day. I’ve had these in mini before and reviewed them here, but as we all know the ratios of peanut butter to chocolate differs in the minis, so I was very interested to try them full size. Now, this Reese’s plays with the whole crunchy versus smooth peanut butter preference, as it’s really the same thing as the regular RPBC, just with bits of peanuts in them.

From what I understand this is a limited edition and has been making appearances and disappearances for the past few years. This is the first time I caught them.

The cups smell the same of sweet, rich, salty peanut butter. You can’t notice the chunks of peanuts through the chocolate, which is nice, as I think I’d be a little wierded out seeing bumps on my cups (that didn’t sound so good…).

The flavor is the same, really. There’s nothing new here in that regard. The chunks of peanuts certainly change the texture. The peanut butter is still soft, smooth with a little grain to it. The chunks, which are about 1/4 of a peanut, are just mixed into the peanut butter center. I find that it doesn’t really change much, other that how I ate it. I chewed this RPBC more, as opposed to taking a bite and letting in melt on my tongue which is how I usually prefer to eat them.

So if you are a crunchy peanut butter lover, these are for you. They’re not different enough to make them anything noteworthy in my book.

Whatchamacallit has a new friend! It was…oh, I forgot the name already. What was it called? That Thingamajig type candy bar?

Thingamajig is a new Limited Edition bar that Hershey’s is producing, I am unsure for how long exactly, as a nice compliment to the Watchamacallit bar. It cleverly sports another placeholder name and is essentially the same sort of candy bar. A few things have been tweaked and switched, but the two are really candy bar siblings as so to speak.

Thingamajig comes in a sassy red wrapper, which is much more eye-catching than Watchamacallit’s beige/yellow color scheme. The wrapper describes it as “Made with chocolate, cocoa crisps and peanut butter”. I admit, I’m suspicious of this, as I know Watchamacallit is made with mockolate. So I can’t help but scrutinize the semantics here. Does “made with” mean the same as “chocolatey”? From a glance at the ingredients, it does. *sigh*

I’ll refrain from comparing the two bars for the sake of brevity, as that territory has been covered by many of the other candy blogs out there. The main difference is that the crispies in Thingamajig are cocoa flavored, and it has a stripe of peanut butter instead of caramel like Whatchamacallit. We all clear here now?

Out of the wrapper, the Thingamajig smells a little like a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup (RPBC): sweet, peanut buttery with a hint of chocolate.

The flavor is sweet and chocolatey at first, with notes of caramel and cream and that signature mockolate greay texture. Then the peanut butter taste comes in, similar to a Reese’s PBC, but not as intense and fresh. I don’t get any extra chocolate kick from the cocoa crispies, which doesn’t surprise me, as flavored crisped rice is a mild beast to begin with. As I taste this, I am annoyed by the fact that the mockolate coating melts on my fingers as I hold the bar (yes, I don’t like to use the wrapper for that, I like my bars to be free and break off pieces). The cripiss are very fresh and crispy, as I hear them crunch so loudly in my head when I chew them, it’s like there’s a war going on the there.

It was good, better than I expected, but still nothing stellar to knock me off my feet. Use real chocolate next time and it’s very possible I’ll change my mind.

This candy bar is one that always made me chuckle when I heard of it. Really, does one need the suggestion to eat more? Pul-eeze. I am already plenty talented in that department. A sweet friend of mine sent one to me from Canada, since that’s Eat-More’s preferred habitat.

There is little known about Eat-More’s origins. Only a little blurb on the website tells us that it’s now owned by Hershey, and that they acquired it from Nestle who bought it from Lowney. This candy bar has certainly been around the block.

The Eat-More is described as “Dark Toffee Peanut Chew”, which depending on where you are in the world can mean different things. I decided to not speculate too much ad just open the wrapper and find out for myself right away.

Firstly, Eat-More is a big, long bar. You smells the sweetness and the peanuts right away. It’s slightly sticky to handle, but it’s looks like a giant slab of darkened caramel generously studded with peanuts. I had expected it to be enrobed in chocolate from the description, but that’s not the case. The chocolate must be mixed into the toffee base, which would explain its dark color.

The flavor is pleasing. It’s main flavor is the roasted peanuts, complimented by the toffee which is sweet with subtle notes of cream and burnt sugar. The chew is soft and a tad crumbly, which I was surprised by. Thankfully though it’s not so thick that I feel my molars are in danger.

Halfway though the bar I felt quite full. I guess this is where the “Eat-More” part comes in. Do I admit defeat or continue to finish? I opted for the former, and I couldn’t help but wonder how the other half will do waiting to be eaten. It’s pretty study, so I’m sure it’ll be ok.

I still can’t help but hear in my head: “Eat more? Well, don’t mind if I do….”

I’ve shared my thoughts on Reese’s pieces before: hated as a child and I’ve come to appreciate them with special and infrequent cravings. I really just miss the chocolate with the peanut butter. I saw these on one of the candy hunts and wanted to give them a try, mainly because I hear so many good things about these in their Pastel Eggs format. Part of the allure was that if I didn’t end up liking them, I could at least get some pretty photos of them and then give the rest to my boyfriend, who is crazy about Reese’s Pieces.

All I can say right now, these changed my mind about Reese’s Pieces. This new shape and size changes everything. The pieces are eggs shaped: fatter like marbles with one end a little pointier than the other. They come in festive pastel colors: green, yellow, blue and pink. The quality control here is excellent as there’s little variation in shape and texture of the shells.

Taking my first bite, I realize immediately what makes them special. There’s just more of everything. The shell is bigger and thicker, giving a more satisfying crunch and there’s more peanut butter. Enough to pleasantly coat your tongue if you’re patient enough to let it melt in in your mouth. This means there’s much more flavor, obviously. Some things are the same though: the shells feels nice and smooth on the tongue and the peanut butter is creamy, sweet with that perfect kick of salt.

A glowing example of how a small change in format can change a so-so candy into something stellar. If only I could get Reese’s Pieces like this year ‘round! I’m definitely going to look for more of these as the Easter sales continue.